How to track customers who owe you money in your shop

A debt is written in a corner of a page, or kept in your head. A few weeks later the customer says it was less, or that they already paid part of it, and you cannot prove otherwise. Staff who sell on credit without telling you make it worse.

• Record the debt at the moment of the sale, with the customer's name and phone number. Never "I will write it later".
• Only give credit to customers you can contact. A name with no phone number is a risk.
• Agree the date they will pay, and say it clearly in front of them.
• Record every part payment as it comes in, so the balance is always up to date.

• The customer's name and phone number.
• Every sale on credit, with the date and what they took.
• Every payment they have made, with the date.
• One running balance: what they still owe today.

Customers pay faster when you show them their statement: a clear list of what they took and what they paid. A written statement sent on WhatsApp is polite, it is hard to argue with, and the customer has it on their phone.

Send reminders on the same day each week, keep the tone friendly, and thank people when they pay. Large debts deserve a phone call.

Decide the most a customer can owe you at one time, and stop selling on credit once a customer passes it until they pay. Review your debtors list once a week so a small problem does not grow.

In LogBase you can record a sale as fully paid, part paid or on credit, and attach it to a customer. Each customer has their own page with their running balance, purchase history and payment history. When they pay, you record the payment and the balance drops.

You can send a customer their statement on WhatsApp or save it as a PDF, and the dashboard shows the total owed to you across all customers. The same idea works the other way for suppliers you owe.